Car & Repair

Takata airbag death in Ford Ranger

WASHINGTON – Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it had confirmed a second death in an older pickup truck caused by a defective airbag inflator of Takata Corp and urged 2,900 owners in North America to stop driving immediately until they can get replacement parts.

The second largest U.S. automaker said it confirmed in late December that a July 2017 crash death in West Virginia in a 2006 Ford Ranger was caused by a defective Takata inflator. It previously reported a similar death in South Carolina that occurred in December 2015.

Ford said both Takata deaths occurred with inflators built

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Porsche Classic will offer 3D-printed parts for cars like the 959.

Sourcing replacement parts for
classic cars is never easy, especially when it comes to small-volume models.
Porsche is trying to come up with a workaround and is now offering
a limited number of 3D-printed parts for some of its classic cars, including the 959
supercar from the ’80s. In total, Porsche will offer nine 3D-printed parts and is examining the possibility of 20 more. Porsche Classic offers roughly 52,000 parts for various models.

Only 292 Porsche 959s were ever built, meaning parts were in limited supply from the start. Porsche will use selective laser melting to create the release lever

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Early pothole season plagues eastern U.S.

In suburban Detroit, frustrated residents
filled potholes in the dark with sand and gravel, with police following up to put out cones and flares to keep them safe. Across town on I-94, as many as
15 cars were idled in a row on the shoulder, damaged by potholes that prompted the closure of a freeway entrance ramp. In Pittsburgh, a
three-fold spike in complaints from motorists has prompted 12-hour shifts for crews to take advantage of dry weather to patch monstrous craters.

Pothole season has come early to the eastern U.S., which has seesawed between freezing conditions and temperatures pushing

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Consumer Reports car rankings puts Genesis brand on top

Hyundai’s Genesis topped the annual ranking of new vehicle brands by influential U.S. magazine Consumer Reports, while General Motors’ electric Chevrolet Bolt was named top pick for compact green car.

Millions of prospective auto buyers consult the magazine’s rankings, which are based on road testing, reliability, safety and owner satisfaction scores.

The top 10 brand rankings (for the whole list, check out CR’s website):

1. Genesis
2. Audi
3. BMW
4. Lexus
5. Porsche
6. Kia
7. Subaru
8. Tesla
9. Honda
10. Toyota

Reliability, customer satisfaction, road-test performance and safety are components in Consumer Reports’ rankings. CR points out

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Hyundai recalls nearly 155,000 Sonatas from 2011 for airbag issue

Hyundai is
recalling certain 2011 model-year
Sonata midsize sedans, saying the
airbags may not inflate in a crash.

Hyundai says in a government filing that the airbag control unit may short circuit in a crash and prevent the front and side airbags from inflating and the seatbelts from tightening. The automaker says it is aware of four incidents in which owners of the 2011
Sonata reported airbag failure during a crash. Only 1 percent of models are estimated to be defective.

The recall affects 154,753 Sonata models built between Dec. 11, 2009, and Sept. 29, 2010, at Hyundai’s Alabama assembly

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2018 Honda Ridgeline long-term review and road test update

A few weeks back, John and his family returned from a trip Up North in our long-term
2018 Honda Ridgeline. I got an urgent text from him on Sunday night that said the ”
Ridgeline
has a weird rattle at low speed. Sounds like a tin can dragging the ground. Nothing is actually dragging, and I can’t see anything out of place underneath. Drives fine.” Great news to cap off the weekend, right? I told him to bring it to the office and we’d troubleshoot it there.

As you can hear in the video below, John’s description was pretty apt.

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